Otter Carnage

Otter Carnage on Norfolk Fishery

Mark Casto, the bailiff for Broome Pits in Ditchingham, Norfolk, has been following the otter problem in the Broome area for some time. FishingMagic contacted him for his views on this latest threat to our fisheries.

“This year a large number of specimen tench, carp and eels have been taken from Broome Pits by the otters,” Mark said, “and sadly there is nothing we can do to stop this as we lease the waters from the owners each year and the cost of fencing makes that an unrealistic option. It’s a case of having to watch specimen fish getting ripped to bits.

“My club, the Bungay Cherry Tree AC, is a small local club that has been going for the last 60 years and we do not have the funds or manpower to fight this problem. Much of our work is done by volunteers and ordinary working people who devote their time and effort to the club.

A tench that was savaged by an otter as it was being played by a night angler at Broome pits

“We struggle to survive but have kept going despite many setbacks and have in the past fought against pollution saving the local rivers from dire problems. The otters are going to continue to be problem for us unless we win the national lottery and can afford the fencing to keep them out of our waters, and that is not going to happen.

“So I felt the best thing I could do in response to the member’s anger about this was to keep a record of what the otters were killing, and how often it was happening, and make sure it was noticed.

Another casualty – A 6lb large eel killed by a large male otter on a day when three tench were found slaughtered

“I then got in touch with Chris Burt of the SAA who has been brilliant, and Steve Henson from the EA, both of whom were very helpful and confirmed that the mutilated fish bodies we’ve found were indeed otter kills.

“Most fisherman are very aware of the problems of otter predation but I think the general public are still woefully unaware of the carnage that otters can do to fish.”

“A carp in a stillwater in the middle of winter is like a Belisha Beacon saying MCDONALDS!” says the SAA’s Chris Burt.

The hungry otters are on the rise again, and results are becoming more and more apparent in our fisheries. As food stocks run out in rivers the otters move on to target stillwaters. Now, with winter approaching, carp in particular are hunted, but no fish, including tench, are safe.

Mark says, “I must stress I am not against otters. It is not their fault; they are just doing what they have always done. The problem is that they have been released back into an environment that has changed greatly, with many coarse fisheries around the country and busy roads that otters did not have to deal with years ago. It is a fact that anglers over the years have had to suffer many setbacks with the decline of rivers, cormorants coming inland and water abstraction, not to mention the signal crayfish that now plague the river Waveney.

“This is not a problem that is going to go away, and as for the tench and carp in Broome pits and other local fisheries, their fate is uncertain.”